A Pirate's Life For Me (OLD VERSION)
by TweedleDitz
Summary: Better than muffins. Because who doesn't want to read a swashbuckling tale about dauntless aristocrats and charlatan pirates. And ships; those are fun to drive.
1. Not Another Pirate Story

**I do not own Soul Eater or any other character (hahahah get the pun?)**

**BECAUSE I HAVE TO: **

_**Trust Me: **_**Almost done with the next chapter! Expect it in about a week or two. Sorry it's taking so long I have summer to do haha**

_**Romeo X Juliet: **_**It's taking a while but it's on a small hiatus due to lack of inspiration. I know so sad**

_**Game of Chance: **_**Still working on that chapter too haha expect in a week or two as well**

**So yes, I'm starting YET ANOTHER story. I always get these ideas and if I don't put it into a story soon I pretty much die inside so sorry that I'm working on about a bajillion stories at once. I might permanently stop some of them because I feel my updates are too long (although compared to others I believe it's like heaven hehehe) but I'm not sure which ones.**

_**Anyhoo moving on…**_

**So I just saw the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie and here is the result :D so if you've seen the movie, you'll know what their accents should sound like down here \/ but if you haven't seen it, just imagine some with reformed British accents and others with slurred ill-mannered British accents.**

_**Maka, Kid, Spirit, Sid, Justin, Tezca, Joe, Stein, Kami, Lord Death:**__**  
><strong>_**British accent (like Elizabeth and Lord Beckett)  
><strong>**  
><strong>_**Soul, Black Star, Liz, Patty, Tsubaki:**__**  
><strong>_**Slurred accent with a slight hint of Spaniard accent (like Jack Sparrow, Grubbs, Angelica, and Blackbeard)**

**I've also been rewatching the movie The Mummy so…I'm feeling a little adventurous (: ****By the way, this DOES NOT follow the Pirates of the Caribbean or The Mummy storyline so please read (: ****Oh and I'm not British so sorry if some of it's wrong! ****And I know the Flying Dutchman is a ship, but in "Soul Eater" he's a dude, so in here…he's a dude haha.**

* * *

><p>"<em>Yo ho…yo ho…"<em>

"…_a pirate's life for me…"_

A little girl sang in a whispered tone, clutching onto the end of her ship. She was on a rather large sea vessel, owned by the King of her country. They were headed home after a journey to another country to enforce a peace treaty. Her father was a diplomat, the King's most trusted advisor, and so her and her mother tagged along.

"Maka, get away from there!" A tall, beautiful woman downed in a very elegant gown, quickly ran to the side of the boat and grabbed her daughter from behind, pulling her away from the boundary where, if crossed, would have sent her overboard.

"But mummy, there's another ship over there!" The 5-year old pointed in the direction of the edge she was previously standing by. "Do you suppose they're the friendly sort?"

"A ship?" She stared straight across to see fog.

The screen was thin and quickly dispersed, and sure enough another ship made its way to the clearing. What alarmed the mother was the close proximity and lack of space between the two vessels, as the foreign one was close enough the two generations of girls were able to hear the creaking noises of it. As the ship neared closer, the clouds that followed it began to take over the sky above their own ark. In a somewhat eerie way the winds began to blow in the other ship's favor and a gloomy atmosphere began to befall them.

The older woman knelt down to look at the other at eye level and grabbed her daughter's hand. "Be a dear and go to Stein." She placed one hand on the top of the child's head and brought it down to her cheek. "Mummy will be back, just don't leave Stein's side." She placed a kiss on her forehead and stood up.

As fast as her little feet would run, the young girl ran to him, holding her dress up so she wouldn't trip. When she reached the young man, he took her by the hand and began to entertain the small girl; but from time to time he also stole glances of the other ship and during those short amounts of time his smile would turn to concern. After they split, her mother walked up the stairs of the deck and into the captain's quarters. She knocked on the door but without a reply she opened it and walked in to see her husband talking around a table with a few other men.

"Kami?" The redheaded man spoke as the others turned around to stare at said woman, who was still holding onto the doorknob. "We are in the middle of a meeting."

"There is a ship, off in the near distance." The men turned their heads to look at the admiral, and his reaction was stern. "And it is not one of ours." She finished.

"It wouldn't be a Russian now would it?" A dark skinned general asked his superior. "We've just come from there."

"I'd doubt it. We'd been notified if it were." A brunette soldier replied.

The admiral's expression became extremely concerned, so he stood up and with a defiant voice he gave his orders. "Sid, gather the crew. Tell them to ready the canons. Joe, steer this ship off course, we need to give ourselves as much distance as we can. The rest of you, help our men!"

"You're going to shoot them?" His wife exclaimed, stepping aside as her husband's soldiers and close generals excused themselves past her and exited his quarters until the two of them were alone.

"No." He scrambled around for a map. "We need to be ready when _they_ attack _us_." He grabbed the map and laid it out on the table. He traced lines onto it with his fingers, either trying to set a course or looking for a destination.

His wife walked beside him and looked at the map. "'Any ship that is not ours, is an enemy.'" She quoted. "Is that not an admiral's maxim?"

He sighed. "I am no admiral; I am a King's Men." He turned to face his wife and grabbed her hands. "Is she safe?" He asked her.

"Yes, I sent her to Stein." She responded. She stroked her husband's cheek. "Our darling, Maka." She whispered. "I pray she will forget this day."

Her husband took the wrist of the hand on his cheek, pulled it over his shoulder and brought her into a kiss. "She is ours, and so I'm sure she will be strong."

Suddenly a loud bang was heard and the ship soon rocked to one side, the couple holding onto each other for support to keep balance. After instructing his wife to stay in his quarters, he quickly gave her one last kiss and ran out of the room. He saw smoke for a few seconds but once it cleared it gave him full view of some of his men being injured, and the others were attending to them or carrying them to safety. Pieces of wood were scattered all across the deck. They had surely been hit by a canon, but luckily it merely grazed the top of the deck and knocked out a bit of the fence bordering.

Another blow came as he stood there and the ship rocked to one side once more, and there were a few more screams this time. Somehow amidst the newly arisen smoke, Tezca, another one of his soldiers, made his way to him.

"The starboard's been hit, sir." He informed him. "The canons are ready to fire on your command."

Spirit coughed into his sleeve a little before responding. "Fire at will. Set them back, but don't provoke them."

"Yes." The soldier nodded and hurried to get below deck.

Once the smoke cleared again, the admiral raised his voice at its highest. He pointed to his left. "You men, grab your guns! Head to the stern and keep our distance, we don't want them following us!"

"Yes, sir!"

He pointed to his right. "You men, take the wounded and bring them to safety! If they are healed quickly enough send them back out here, we'll need as much man power as we can muster!"

"Yes, sir!"

As those men hurried, Spirit heard the faint scream of _"Ready, fire!" _coming from Tezca below deck.

Seemingly out of nowhere, the shrill cry of a little girl bombed the war filled air, and the tall, beautiful woman emerged out of the room from behind the admiral and ran down the stairs.

"Kami!" He screamed.

"I need to get Maka!" She yelled.

"It's too dangerous!"

There was another clearing in the smoke and Spirit could see his daughter, crouching in a corner behind some large boxes and crying for her parents. Stein was behind her with his arms wrapped around her fragile little body, holding on to her for dear life so she wouldn't run away.

"She's with Stein! Come back!" He tried to plead with his wife, but she wouldn't have any of it.

Holding onto the front of her dress so she wouldn't trip, she jumped over and maneuvered around the dead bodies and the men scurrying around everywhere to aide in the battle. Among her struggle gunshots from all sides of the ship began firing, and the smell of gunpowder intoxicated the air. Spirit ducked and missed a bullet aimed for his head, clearly shot by the other ship.

That's when he saw it. Some of the nasty bastards got in a rowboat and made their way to his ship. They now climbed up the sides, barely dodging the bullets his men were shooting down at them from over the ledge. He turned back over to face his wife with wild eyes. She was frantic, pleading with God to let her legs run faster so she could reach her beloved child within the next second or so.

A lot can happen in a second.

And in that second, all time seemed to stop.

"MAMA!" The girl shrieked.

"KAMI!" The admiral shouted in despair.

A tall, beautiful, respected, and courageous woman, was laid to rest on the floor of the deck. Her lovely and inordinate gown, stained red, and a sword that stuck out from her corset.

Her hand, in grace with the floor, still reached out to her daughter.

Her eyes stayed open, tearstained, and still looking at her child.

The five-year old watched as a man in heavy clothing grabbed the handle of the sword and pulled it out of the woman. She looked up to see heavy boots that clanked with every step he took. Due to the smoke and powder his face was hard to be seen, but she could make out a sliver of metal somewhere on his face and spiked up messy dirty blonde hair. She followed the sword to his hand, and saw that both his hands were covered in thick gloves. Strapped to his hip was a small cubicle item that looked as if it was bolted together with a hammer and nail; it looked mechanical. Maka had seen the item before, stowed away in a chest in the cargo room below deck of this ship. She looked over to see the small chest had somehow made its way _onto_ deck and she saw that it had been brutally forced open.

"Finally, it be mine once more." He said to himself His voice was deep and sharp enough to cut through the fog. "We be pirates!" He shouted to the soldiers. "Don't go forgettin' that!" He laughed extraordinarily loud in a maniacal way and shouted something in a foreign language to his men.

She didn't understand what he said, but whatever he said made the foreign pirates cheer and leave the ship, but not before the five-year old's scared expression turned into pure rage at the man who killed her mother.

She would _never_ forget.

_**13 Years Later**_

An eighteen year old sat in front of a mirror. She stared at herself while a maid brushed her hair. Maka Albarn had certainly grown up to be a full fledged woman of high respects and well manners, with an uncanny knack for knowledge through her literary interests in learning through books. Her studies were performed on her own with the help of a private tutor, which technically she didn't need since all her knowledge came from reading books.

She stood up, hair now done up, looking like a very high class and elegant woman. She dismissed her maid and exited the room. She lived in a palace, sharing the home with the King of Death City, Lord Death. Her father, Spirit Albarn, was the Lord's right hand man, his advisor, and closest mate. One could imagine the kind of influence she holds. She walked down the hall outside of her room, and her father just happened to have been heading towards her room to greet her in the morning.

"Maka, you are the mere image of your mother." Her father complimented. "And every bit a woman she was."

She gave him the cold shoulder. "I'm headed to the scaffold."

"Are you in need of an escort?" He asked, hoping she would pick him.

"Yes actually, I am." He smiled for a second until she looked over his shoulder and smiled. "Oh, and there he is now."

Spirit turned around to see that she was waving at Kid, and when the King's son walked up to him, he merely shrunk his shoulders and left the two of them alone after whispering something that sounded like a 'have a jolly good time' or probably something like a 'I'm not good enough.'

"Ready for the hanging?" Kid asked her.

She was about to reply with a nod, but she noticed something hanging around her companion's neck. It was gold, real gold as far as she could tell, and it looked eerily familiar to her. "Hey, what's that?" She asked, completely immersed in her thoughts, trying to remember where she'd seen it before.

"What's what?"

"_That_." This time she pointed, and took a step closer.

"This little trinket?" He took it off and dropped the necklace with the item on it into Maka's hands. "Just a key."

Her eyes widened as she got a closer look at it, and it was definitely a golden key. "Kid, do you have any idea what this is?"

"Reckon it's something important?" He raised an eyebrow and when she looked away from the object she was grinning ear to ear.

"It's the key to the Book of Eibon!" She exclaimed excitedly.

"Oh come off it Maka, you're not still going on about that ancient novel."

"Where did you get it?" She grabbed his arm in a death grip, trying to hold in her excitement. Due to her reading fetish she'd read about the key and what it unlocked plenty of times in books, particularly the restricted ones.

He put his hand over hers and less than softly ripped her hands off his shirt. "Confiscated it from one of the prisoners. Bloody clown actually didn't keep a grip on it I'll tell you that."

Although he had pried her hands off of him she clutched his wrist again and started running down the hall, dragging him with her. "Well come along then! Show me who it was!"

"You're going the wrong way."

.⌠∞⌡.

She had put the key and chain around her neck for safekeeping and as a convenience. They asked a guard to lead them towards the chambers and once they got there the two of them were left to enter them on their own so they could give an audience to one of the cellmates. Kid led Maka down the hallway and looked left and right for the man he had confiscated it from. She followed a few feet behind, interested in seeing what kind of people judgment was brought upon.

A few dozen feet from the entrance he stopped in front of a cell and turned around one-eighty to face Maka as she caught up with him. "This is him."

She turned the front of her body to face the metal bars and saw a boy, around her age or older by his looks, and he was leaning against the farthest , he had white hair, dirtied by the muck and grime of his cell. When he lifted his head up to look at the two nobles, she spotted the red color of his eyes, which also struck her as odd since he was rather tan than pale in skin color. Or perhaps it was the dirt again.

"What brings you fine people to a lovely place like this."He said sarcastically, chuckled and walked closer to the bars. He grabbed them with both hands, which were handcuffed at the wrists. "Is this a broad you've got with you?" He scanned her up and down. "Come on, you can do better."

At first she started seething in anger at his comment, but she shook it off to try and get on his good side. Clearly he was lacking in manners, unlike her. "Maka." She introduced herself. She wanted to reach a hand out for him, but wouldn't dare get her hands filthy.

He raised an eyebrow at her, and in the rudest and proudest tone he replied, "Soul Eater." The two of them were surprised he gave them his name.

Maka held the key up so he could see it. "This is yours I believe." She said.

"It _was_." The boy shot a look at Kid.

"So you can take me to the Book of Eibon?" She wasn't the type of girl to beat around the bush, which surprised the two boys.

He just looked at her with his red eyes, and then looked at Kid to see his reaction to her question. The black haired boy looked like he didn't really like his friend's question, and he was trying hard not to hold in an eye roll or two. However this…_girl_ in front of him looked very determined. _Very_. There was something in her green eyes that irked him and pushed him around, but he quickly put that feeling to rest.

"S'pose I know where it is." He said casually, ignoring the other half of her question.

Kid looked wide-eyed at him but Maka's eyes gleamed ever the more brighter and repeated the half he failed to answer. "So you'll take me there?" She half asked, half expected.

Suddenly, the sound of multiple men in boots, uniform, and armed invaded all three of their ears and the talking amongst the strong men grew louder, nearer, and they never felt more rushed in their life.

"Sure, yeah, fine, whatever." The boy behind bars struggled to find the right answer as the length of his time thinned. He grabbed a portion of her dress and pulled her to him until she hit the bars that separated them. He talked through gritted teeth and looked her straight in the eye. "Just get me the _hell _out of here."

He let her go when Kid and Maka stepped aside as multiple guards made their way to his cell and unlocked the door. Through the huge shuffle of men and the shouting of all of them they couldn't see what was going on until they turned their backs away from the two of them and they could see that two of them each grabbed one of the pirate's arms and the others walked behind them.

"Wait! Where are you taking him?" She tried to ask them, but they had quickly disappeared out of the penitentiary, so she turned to Kid. "Where are they taking him?"

"To the scaffold, his hanging's scheduled for today."

"You mean _he_ is the condemned pirate!" She ran out of the jail, holding onto the front of her dress so she didn't trip, leaving a confused Kid behind. "Damnit!" She said through clenched teeth.

She heard the cheering of the crowds. Oh how the Death City civilians now found entertainment in watching the execution of the condemned. She too, is one of them, and yet for some reason this certain punishment made her see the clapping and shouting from a different angle. She thought about how barely a few minutes earlier she was looking forward to witnessing the death of another pirate, just as she always had, and how now, she was running to save his life. It was the last thing she ever thought she would do, after what a pirate did to her mother, they were her sworn enemies.

Shoot to death her love of books.

That's what was making her do this anyways. As she ran she saw out the open windows he was being led, still handcuffed, to the gallows. She had to climb a small amount of stairs to get to where the warden would be seated, leading the entire thing as he always did. She had a reserved seat for her, where she always sat when she watched the hangings, and the seat was right behind him; it had quite the stunning view. Instead of sitting in her seat she stood straight up right next to his chair, where he was seated. Before saying anything to him she took a glance below.

The executioner wrapped the noose around his neck. "Any last requests, _pirate_." The guard spit the word 'pirate' in his face.

"Actually, I'm feeling a little parched. Get me a bottle of rum yeah?" He smirked as the guard tightened it around his neck.

He laughed mercilessly, which wiped the pirate's smile off his face as it turned into a little snarl. The guard gave him one hard slap on the back, to which the pirate winced at a little as the other man gave a thumb's up to the warden. Back up where the warden sat, he nodded his head.

"I will pay you one hundred pounds to release him." Maka turned to the warden quickly.

He put his hand up, telling the executioner to pause for a moment, and turned to her. "My dear, I would _pay_ one hundred pounds to _see_ that beast hang. Besides, I don't have that kind of power."

"Four hundred pounds." She quickly offered as the warden began lifting his hand up, ready to give the signal. "Sir, I need that man. He's the only one who knows where to find something I'm looking for." The warden stopped and turned to her with an eyebrow raised, to which she said, "I'll pay five hundred if you let him go."

"Maka, I can't just allow a condemned pirate to elude penance just like that." The warden tried to persuade her.

She staggered a bit. His words stalled her, but she swallowed hard and sucked in her breath. "Seven hundred pounds!"

He didn't smile, or laugh, or say anything in response. He turned his hand horizontally and moved it. Maka watched as the executioner cut the rope, giving the pirate a very smug look as the guard removed the noose from around his neck. In return, he looked back up at her with his red eyes, but his face was unreadable to her, which actually annoyed her since she loved to read. She automatically assumed that he would be mouthing words of thanks to her or giving her a smile at least, but he looked a little frustrated, although that isn't the correct word she would use to describe him. But she also put on the smug smile for herself; she had never felt more powerful in her life, or rich for that matter.

She thanked the warden for his favor, and he yawned like he had done nothing at all, although he did mutter something about the executions being behind schedule she believed. She paid the warden for doing something he apparently didn't have the power to do, which she deemed him as lying, she headed back down to where the guards were going to free him. Releasing him from his death sentence ultimately freed him, so he could roam the seas again or whatever it was pirates did. She found him being unhandcuffed, rubbing his wrists as she reached him.

"_You _sir, owe me your end of the bargain." She said defiantly, standing in front of the white-haired pirate.

"And what makes you think I'll keep it?" He said smugly. He turned his head around and saw the guards had left and it was just the two of them standing where the pardoned prisoners were let go.

She huffed in anger. "Because _I _just freed your ass and if you have any sense of gratitude you will take me to where I want to go!"

Suddenly, she felt the side of a bladed hand hit her hard somewhere between the side of her neck and her shoulders, and she immediately fell unconscious. The pirate merely smirked when his companion caught the knocked out girl and carried her away with them.

.⌠∞⌡.

She felt herself rocking back and forth. Wherever she was, the balance was completely unstable.

"…_she's o' the wealthy sort." _

Maka's conscience began to awaken, and she heard voices around her.

"…_so what do we do with her?"_

"_S'not up to us, cap'n's orders."_

She wiggled around to realize she was tied to a pole. Well, her arms were wrapped around it from behind and her hands were tied, but that was it. Her hair was horridly out of place and her clothes felt slightly tarnished and battered, and she saw mud all over her lovely dress. Slowly, so she wouldn't be noticed, she looked up and saw two men, both with swords tied to a belt at their sides. They looked strong and well built, and she silently told herself it would be best not to mess with them.

"…_ransom her…play around…bit…"_

Her conscience, just woken up from a terrible headache, would not allow her to hear their full conversation, and unintentionally she shook her head and winced at a sudden pain at the back of her head and for some reason a sport around her neck and shoulder.

"_Oi, the lass's wakin' up."_

She tried to close her eyes again and pretended to sleep, but her hair was suddenly pulled and her head was yanked up. Her eyes greeted the dirtied face of one of the men, and he held a small dagger next to his head.

"Such fair skin…" He whispered and turned to his comrade, who just stood by and watched. "Aye Harvar, you think if I rough 'er up a bit the cap'n won't mind?" He shouted.

She wasn't scared, not one bit. She hated pirates and the loathsome feeling that boiled in the pit of her stomach gave her enough courage to stand up to them by giving them a disgusted glare.

"Lay another one of your filthy hands on me and I shall have you hanging by the noose in the morning!" She spat in his face.

He let her go so he could use his freed up hand to wipe her saliva off of his face. His grip on the dagger tightened and when his face was clear. He gave her a nasty look but before he could lunge at her his companion quickly grabbed him from behind and held him under the armpits.

He scolded his friend. "Calm down Kilik! This one's special." Maka cocked an eyebrow. "The captain will have our heads if we-!"

"If you _what_."

A low, gruff voice interrupted the dark skinned man and his friend stopped moving. The two of them turned around, the man called Harvar still holding onto his friend from behind. After seeing the figure from which the voice came from they quickly split apart and stood up straight as a board. Maka moved her head to see what could have made these men stiff in their boots.

She saw the boy, maybe a year or two older than her, arms crossed and one shoulder leaning in the opening of the door. He too, had a sword strapped in by his hip, only it looked much more expensive than the other two's. He was wearing the same shirt she remembered him wearing, and the same pants as a matter of fact. The only difference was that he carried with him a sword and he looked cleaner and more presentable, well as cleaned up as a pirate could get.

"N-Nothing captain!" The lighter skinned of the two replied.

"We 'ere jus' messin' around, sir!" The darker one added.

Without uncrossing his arms he lifted his weight off the frame of the door and walked in Maka's direction. His eyes focused on his two men, each of his steps accentuated, bolder and heavier as he walked a farther distance.

"Give me that." He ordered and forcefully grabbed the dagger out of the other man's hand; never once did he stop walking. Then his eyes turned to her and his feet's direction came her way. "Now here be a fine young lady." He smirked, playing with the tip of the blade.

The sight of him stirred something in her stomach. "Hey, when I paid for your release that did not include knocking me unconscious and tying me to a pole like some prisoner!" She scolded and wiggled around to prove her point.

"I like to use the word 'guest', it sounds less…forced." He commented.

"Forced." She scoffed. "Soul Eater, wasn't it?" She asked, all fear and intimidation absent in her tone. Honestly, the audacity of this pirate!

Said man finally shortened the distance between them to about a foot or two. "There should be a 'Captain' in there somewhere." He corrected her.

"_You_ are captain?" Her eyebrow raised at its peak. "How old are you, seventeen?" She mocked.

"Nineteen, actually." He sounded prideful. He took a huge step closer and forcefully plunged the knife into the wood next to her head, to which she flinched for a short moment, before returning to her death glare. "I would suggest putting that cheeky tongue of yours back into your kisser." He smiled. "You're on my territory now, angel."

She lowered her glare. "What do you mean." He took a step back, giving her back her breathing space, and opened his arms wide in a greeting style.

"Welcome aboard the Nidhogg." He beamed. "You'll find yourself among the finest crew on the finest ship of the sea."

"The Nidhogg?" She said in disbelief. "That damned boat only exists in ghost stories." She said while trying to wiggle out of her rope restraints.

"Well you best be believin' in ghost stories, love." He paused. "Because you're in one right now."

She sneered at him. "And the Flying Dutchman, suppose he exists too." She mocks sarcastically.

"Nope, took that pitied man out years ago." He walked over to a nearby wall and picked up one of the swords that hung horizontally on it, sliding his fingers across it like he was sharpening it. "Didn't put up much of a fight, took away his bloody red hat and then he went ballistic."

"I don't believe that." She shot back at him.

He walked back over to her, carrying the second sword in his hang. "Says the woman who wants me to take her to the Book of Eibon." He brought the blade end of the sword up to her neck. "That's a right nasty myth you're wanting to mess with there deary."

Maka was satisfyingly surprised with herself at how she could keep her composed face even when in a near death situation. But somehow, she _knew_ he wouldn't dare harm her. The other two had left them alone, probably afraid that their leader now carried a weapon with which he could have harmed them with. Pirates were cowards, she concluded.

"Speaking of which…" He removed the sword from her neck and swung it around a bit, facing his back to her. "Hate to break it to you, but I don't actually know where this bloody book of yours is."

She couldn't decide if her heart sank to the depths of the ocean or if the temperature in her head rose to the height of the skies. She _could not_ believe a woman of such status as herself was imprudent enough to get herself to one: join into a faux agreement with a _pirate_, two: ignore her moral values and beliefs against pirates, three: somehow make her way to being kidnapped and trapped onto a pirate's ship, and four: did I mention a noble like her was kidnapped…by _pirates_?

But she couldn't help but feel like all the blame belonged to her.

* * *

><p><strong>I don't have much to say but, it's literally 3:00am right now so this is pretty much crappy.<strong>

**Hopefully I'll actually put about a million more percent of thought into the process of the story.**

**Review!**

**It keeps pirates away from shore.**

**Unless you like that.**

**Then it attracts landlovers to pirates.**

**(:**


	2. The Love of the Crew

**I do not own Soul Eater or any other character (hahahah get the pun?)**

**Ox has a Scottish accent yay!**

**Please read my comments in Chapter One for other accents (:**

**Special Regards:  
><strong>**Lacrow  
>Techno Skittles<br>sapphireangel09  
>Another Witty Angel<br>.Poisoned Scarlet.  
>Foxgrl18<br>Silverwolf819  
>Lilie<strong>

* * *

><p>"Speaking of which…" He removed the sword from her neck and swung it around a bit, facing his back to her. "Hate to break it to you, but I don't actually know where this bloody book of yours is."<p>

She couldn't decide if her heart sank to the depths of the ocean or if the temperature in her head rose to the height of the skies. She _could not_ believe a woman of such status as herself was imprudent enough to get herself to one: join into a faux agreement with a _pirate_, two: ignore her moral values and beliefs against pirates, three: somehow make her way to being kidnapped and trapped onto a pirate's ship, and four: did I mention a noble like her was kidnapped…by _pirates_?

But she couldn't help but feel like all the blame belonged to her.

…

Her eyes went from open wide in disbelief, down to thin slits where she thoroughly glared at him, pretending to cut his heart out with her eyes; if he _had_ a heart, that is.

"Liar! You told me that you know where it is. You've even got the key." She pointed out to him.

"Oh did I say that? Silly me. Reckon I've heard of it, but I don't deal with crap." He flipped the sword and pointed the tip of it at her collar. "Nicked that little trinket from a passerby ship, completely worthless."

The key was real. She _knew_ that the item that hung around her neck was absolutely authentic and was as old as the Gods themselves. She thought about it for a while, and decided if it was worthless to _him_, she'd just keep the bloody thing. Such a pirate, to steal such an important item and treat it as though it were vulgar filth. This boy in front of her, pointing the tip of the sword at her, was _exactly_ the worst type of pirate, and nonetheless the kind she despised the most.

If she wasn't tied up and being held captive, she'd probably spit in his face.

What the hell, she'd rather die than stay on this ship.

"You dir'y whore!" Kilik shouted at her. "Spi'in' in our cap'n's face!"

Said man laughed. _Laughed_. And Maka saw exactly why. Despite the dark-skinned pirate's sudden outburst, it was a failed attempt. She had never spit like that before, it was very unladylike. The only memory she had to go off of was watching the commoners do so during her carriage rides through the streets. The attempted failure consistedof a small line of saliva dripping down the edge of her lips and a very small amount of spit on the tip of the sword.

He hacked up some saliva, turned his head to the side, and spit into a pot next to a desk. "_That's_ how you spit." He mocked at her, to which she returned with another grimace. To clean his sword, he plunged the sword deep into the wood next to her head. She winced, closing her eyes for a second and moved her head as far away from the sword as possible. He left the sword there, and walked around her and began untying the rope around her wrists. While doing so he leaned over the side of the pole and whispered in her ear.

"I warned you to watch yourself, love."

She didn't have time to process what his words meant because as soon as her hands were freed he grabbed one of her hands into one of his own and walked back around the pole with a heavy grip on her wrist. She tried to run, but she was more logical than that. Where was there to run to? The sea? She'd have a better chance if she patiently waited on the boat.

"Take her onto deck." With a pull of his hand he shoved her into Kilik and Harvar, and each man kept a firm hold on each of her arms. "I want her cleaning it by dusk."

"What about her clothes?" Harvar asked his captain.

"What about them." Soul raised an eyebrow.

"If we're to run into another ship, suppose what they'll think seeing one of your crew dressed up in such a wealthy get-up. They might even think she's taken control over the ship."

The white haired man thought about it for a little, as Maka glared at all three men. One of the crew! Not even in hell. And she wished they'd quit talking about her as if she wasn't here. But she agreed, this dress was tiring her. All ripped and worn out, she wouldn't be caught dead in it. Although, since the possibility of that was rather high, she decided not to tease her choice of clothing just yet.

Rubbing his temples and groaning, he finally gave them an order, pushing the three out of his quarters. "Figure it out yourselves." He said rather harshly and then slammed the door closed in their faces, leaving them on the balcony of the second highest part of the ship.

"Charming captain you've got there." Maka told the other two extremely sarcastically. The two men began dragging her down the stairs onto deck to meet with a certain woman, whom they went to as first resort.

"Rather handsome though eh?" Harvar commented. Maka rolled her eyes as they lead her.

"He's got e'ery woman's eyes on this 'ere vessel." Kilik nodded in agreement.

Harvar sighed. "And I've just a sword and me trousers."

"No! That's quite a dashin' shirt you've got on there." Kilik pointed to him.

"You think so?" Harvar looked at him hopefully.

"From the bot'om of me boot."

"Thanks mate!"

"…"

"What? What you lookin' at me like that for?" Harvar asked his friend.

"You oaf!" He slapped his companion on the top of his head. "Yer s'pose ta comment me _back_."

"Well how the bloody hell am I supposed to know that?"

"It's _common cour'esy_."

"You want courtesy? Well here's your _'courtesy'_ ya git!" Harvar reached across Maka to punch Kilik.

Maka sighed as the two men began to one arm fight each other.

Of all places to be taken hostage.

**.⌠∞⌡.**

"Kid, surely you _must_ know where she could have gone." The red head questioned.

Three men were gathered around a fourth man, who was sitting behind a rather large, organized, and cluttered desk. They were in the fourth man's office, complete with bookshelves and seating and a rather high ceiling. The youngest of the men, clothes in his daily black suit to match his black and oddly white streaked hair, sat in one of the chairs in front of the ornate desk, looking straight forward at the fourth red haired man. The other two stood around the young one, strolling around the office.

"I've already told you. The last time I saw her she was talking with the executioner." Kid responded with a straight face.

"You mean the warden?" Spirit asked, leaning his elbows on his desk. Kid nodded in reply. "Bloody hell."

"Why would she have an interest in talking with _him_?" Joe asked Stein rhetorically.

"JUSTIN LAW!" Spirit shouted.

They had already called the executioner to stand outside of the door after the first time Kid mentioned he was the last person he saw Maka talking to. At Spirit's call, the blonde haired and blue eyed man stepped into the office, clad in his black robe and cross necklace. "You called for me?"

"What is it you and Maka were conversing about earlier today?" He asked in a rather strict tone. "And _don't_ beat around the bush."

Justin smiled. Well, if it can be called smiling because there was this hint of deviousness in his voice. The youngest warden ever, sentencing those who've done bad to death at such a ripe age, everyone knew to keep an eye out for his personality because certainly what he does would affect him negatively.

"If I may have a word before answering you, I believe the correct question for the situation would be, 'what did _she_ want from _me_.' The way you phrased it… it made it sound like I was an accomplice to the young lady's disappearance." He spoke.

Everyone but Kid raised an eyebrow at his speech. Even Kid did not know why his childhood friend felt the need to speak to Justin Law, the executioner, she tended to stray away from the dangerous sort. However, the way the warden recently exposed a new and rather particular question, his worry grew larger and he wasn't completely innocent in her disappearance either because now, he had an idea what happened to her.

But should he tell the fleet admiral of his speculations? Or keep quiet and see if the grownups were witty enough to solve the case of his missing friend. Kid feared that if he told Spirit his theory of Maka Albarn's whereabouts, and they were not legitimate, his dear friend would be in even greater danger in the time that took or scared that Spirit would strangle him with words calling him a liar of not knowing anything about Maka's vanishing act.

Justin walked to the side of Spirit's desk and picked up a small, handheld telescope and began looking out the window with it. "It seems that your daughter has taken a liking to a particular item. Whether that be a tangible artifact or a boy I cannot say."

Kid gulped. Yep, his assumptions were correct.

"And _why_ is it you cannot say?" Spirit pressed.

"Because I do not know." Justin put the telescope down, back on the desk. He walked closer to the floor to ceiling high window and put his hand on it, squinting to look farther outside. "Must be rather important though. Paid me seven hundred pounds to release a pirate who knew the location."

_Seven hundred pounds! For a stupid novel! _Kid thought in disbelief. He could not believe his friend would be so infatuated with ancient books she'd bribe an executioner to release a pirate.

Spirit stood up, screaming loudly in frustration as he did so. "Well there we have it! A pirate has kidnapped my daughter!" Kid felt relieved that him staying quiet worked out so well. "Joe, ready the fifteenth fleet. Tell them to search the seas for my daughter! I want every man who is doing nothing to get moving and find her!"

"Yes, sir." Joe said and exited the office.

"Well my work here is done, I think I'll retire for the rest of the evening. Good day." Justin bowed in fake gratitude and followed Joe out the door.

"Spirit, what do you think it is that Maka fancies so?" Stein asked his companion. "Perhaps she willingly went with the pirate to find it, and therefore was not forcibly taken."

"Either way, she is with a boy, whom I have no doubt about, that will cause her harm."

.⌠∞⌡.

"Ow!" Maka yelped for a split second and began to suck the side of her thumb.

"Is everything alright?" A tall, raven haired woman quickly ran to the blonde's side to aide her.

"Yes, just pinched myself with the button. I'm fine." Maka assured the woman. A few seconds while pushing the button through the hole as she intended, she stood up and showed herself to the other woman. "Well, how do I look?"

"Just like one of the crew!" The raven haired girl smiled. "I'll keep your dress in this box in case you need it. Sorry I couldn't find any other size, that's the smallest spares we've got." She apologized.

"No it's perfect! Thank you Tsubaki." She smiled.

Maka walked over to a mirror and studied herself more closely. She wore a dirty white long sleeved top that tightened around her torso and then flowed from the waist down, ending at just below her crotch and a brown leather vest on top of it. Her bottom attire consisted of pants and boots of medium height. She complimented herself on being able to pull off such a daring look. _I look a lot like a pirate! _She said in her head with disgust. She never imagined she'd end up dressing in the clothes of the people she most despised, much less be surrounded by all of them. Except this one, whom she was in the room with. She was sweet and the blonde had taken a quick liking to the girl.

"It might take some time for me to be accommodated to this." Maka commented.

"Oh don't worry, the clothes are really easy to get comfortable with. And I've got your dress in case you miss it!" Tsubaki said cheerfully.

"That's not what I meant." Maka said melancholically. "But thanks, anyways. You know, you are the most decent person I've met so far on this ship." She walked over and sat in a chair next to Tsubaki.

"You don't like being on the Nidhogg?" Tsubaki asked in disbelief.

"Not in the least." Maka quickly admitted. "I was kidnapped by your poor excuse for a Captain! I don't even know _why_ he forced me onto this bloody boat! The dirty bastard lied to me! He stole a valuable piece of history from another ship and told me he knew where the book was! I even paid _seven hundred pounds_ to free his ass from execution! Sorry, I don't mean any offense to you." She exclaimed, shortly venting her anger.

Tsubaki smiled at her, accepting the apology. However she had no idea what the devil she was talking about. "I'm sure he has a good reason for doing such things."

"What good would it do to bring a girl _like me_ onto a pirate ship?" She asked Tsubaki. "I sincerely believe your boss is a loon."

"Please don't be so quick to judge Maka, he really is a good man." Tsubaki tried to persuade her. "Although I'll admit he's not the best at, _executing_ his good intentions."

"_He_ has good intentions?" She scoffed. "He's also only _nineteen_. You seem a great deal older than him, _you _should be the Captain!"

"To be completely honest, he really is the only person on the Nidhogg fit for being a Captain. And I'm only twenty." She said softly.

"Oh, sorry about that." Maka quickly apologized. "But, if I may ask, what is it that makes him so great to you?"

"He cares 'bout the lot o' us."

The two girls looked over at the door and saw a man with extremely short brown hair casually walking in with a sack over his shoulder. He had glasses on, and wearing a three quarter sleeved shirt with an open leather vest over it. He walked over to them, sat in another open chair and set the bag down.

"Maka, this is Ox. He's the one who keeps watch of the ship above deck. Got his own telescope too!" She said happily.

"Nice to meet you." He said and shook hands with Maka. "I heard about you. The noble that the Cap'n snatched. Don't worry 'bout it, he's a good man, Soul. Makes sure the seas are ready for sailin' before havin' us head out, he does. Always worryin' about the safety o' the crew, that guy."

"You're kidding." Maka said.

"I'm as serious as the tides o' the ocean, miss." He stood up from the chair and threw the bag to Tsubaki. "Anyways, just came in to give you the rations for our horde. We'll be needin' a hearty feast, that we will. I'll leave it to ya then. Maka." He saluted her with two fingers and walked back outta the room.

"Do you cook?" She asked her.

"I'm the chef of the ship." She smiled and threw the bag over her shoulder. "Well, I'd best be off feeding the crew."

"Wait! What am I supposed to do?" Maka asked her desperately.

"I'd pay a visit to the Captain if I were you. He's up there in his quarters." Tsubaki pointed. "Harvar told me he wanted you cleaning, but we've already done our share for the day so you'll have to talk to him."

"You're kidding." Maka said once again.

"Trust me, every one of us loves the guy, just give him a chance yeah?" She said as she left the room to go do her chefly duties.

Alone in the room now, she was left with her thoughts and given time to sort out her emotions. Maka Albarn, to say the least, was surprised to hear that the crew adored their captain. She kept her walls up, still very undetermined about the way she thought about him, and she decided she'd ask around and try to find the young man's weakness, that way she'd use it against him and be able to get off this bloody ship. She wasn't beaten yet.

She did as she was told, and walked across the large deck towards the stairs that lead to the balcony where the captain's quarters were behind. Every man and woman on deck stopped their activities and stole a glance of the privileged woman who now donned a pirate's attire. Intimidated at the fact she actually wore the clothes better than they themselves did, their interest and curiosity of the girl spiked to mountainous heights. Why their precious leader stole such a precious gem onto his vessel like borrowed cargo, still remained a mystery.

It was only after she invited herself inside the captain's quarters and invited herself in did they return to work.

"Soul, I need to speak with you." She said defiantly after throwing the door open.

She was met with the familiar red eyes, and one other pair of eyes that was a stranger to her. Above them was noticeably blue hair the spiked in all sorts of directions. The sleeves of his shirt looked like they were ripped off and turned it into either a sleeveless shirt or a severely shortly sleeved shirt, and she could see how incredibly ripped and muscular the man was. The two men were crowded around a table that had a large map laid across it. The facial expressions she saw were very undeterminable and she couldn't figure out whether they were irritated, angry, or satisfyingly surprised at her entry.

"Is that the girl?" The blue-haired one asked Soul.

"Yes, it is." Soul said slowly and questionably as he straightened himself. "What are you doing here?" He raised his voice.

"I need to speak with you." She repeated herself. Inside, she was frustrated that word had spread all around she had been taken on board. She'd rather the information not be available to so many strangers.

"We're in the middle of a meeting, love." He warned.

"Well fine then." She crossed her arms. "I'll just wait here until you have finished." She looked around as if pretending not to notice them, and her eyes caught the pole she was tied to earlier, and the sword still stuck to it with a smaller slit above it from the smaller knife the one called Kilik had stabbed into it.

He clearly did not want her here, but she was determined to annoy and frustrate him as much as possible. That way he would think of what a nuisance she was and would want her off the Nidhogg immediately. She could hear it in the tone of his voice, but she couldn't pinpoint it. He sounded less egotistical, less cocky, less rude, less teasing, etc. compared to when she had first woken up tied to the pole inside here. She didn't know what changed him, and she began to consider what the crew had said to her about him. Perhaps it was just to scare her? His tone, the way he talked to her, it seemed less…

…piratey.

If that was a word, anyways.

"We can finish another time." The blue haired boy said. "Try keepin' yourselves afloat while I'm gone!" He walked past Maka and left the room, closing the door behind him on his way out.

"Geez, what was that about." She said under her breath. "Who was that?" Maka asked him, walking deeper into his quarters, looking around at all the items on the wall.

"Black Star, right hand man, best mate, weapons expert." He answered shortly, and scanned her up and down and smirked. "The clothes fit you well, I see." After lack of any type of response, he asked, "Well, what are you doing here?"

"Yes Soul." She slammed her hand on the table, standing across from him and glared. "What _am_ I doing here? I agreed to come along only if _you_ took me to the Book of Eibon. Since I neither willingly boarded this bloody ship nor am being lead towards what I'm searching for, I demand to be let off immediately!"

"I'm afraid that's not possible." He looked at her from straight across the table.

"And why is that, if I may ask?" She said rudely and incredulously.

"We're not set to head into port for about a few days." He explained. "We'll be in another country by then and we won't return back to Death City for a few months."

She slammed her other hand onto the table. "Then why the bloody hell did you bring me onto the Nidhogg in the first place! Turn the ship around, let me off the next time you arrive into harbor, do _something_!"

"I can't promise you a safe trip home but feel free to leave at the next port." He offered to her. "Don't come crying to me when you're arrested and hung for being a pirate."

She scoffed. "Are you mad? I will just get my dress from Tsubaki, wear it, and give them my name."

He smirked. "You won't have your dress, lass. Your dress is on _my_ ship, in the hands of one of _my_ crew. Best of luck if you're aiming to try and take it back."

She wanted to hit him _so hard_. But he was physically stronger and the attack would have been in vain. Instead she groaned loudly and turned around, running her hands through her hair and on her hip, study pacing like crazy. Had he planned the whole thing? What were his intentions? She couldn't stand being stuck on the ship for another day let alone about a week! She calmed herself down, thinking _no worries, papa probably has a whole fleet looking for me_, and so her emotions were calmed down.

"So what, did you take me hostage? Do you want ransom?" She stopped with both hands on her hips and asked him.

"No."

"Well…?" She said rudely, expecting an answer from him.

He took a deep breath and ran a strong hand through his hair. He looked at her, to see her eyes very questioning, demanding, and innocent. The tension in the room was thick. Could he tell her why he had his men knock her out and bring her onto the ship? She would think of him as a monster. Well hey, he's a pirate for crying out loud! Fearless, reckless, brave, and charming! He took in another sigh before answering her long awaited question.

"I'll admit I lied so you would free me from execution." He started off, and he saw her shoulders loosen up as she was finally being given what she had been asking for.

"Go on." She ushered.

"It's hard to explain, but I couldn't risk dying. You know, you were being very loud when you confronted me after my release. You seemed so fired up I couldn't tell you I didn't know where it was because you'd go to your precious father and get me sentenced to hanging again and I couldn't afford that. If you talked about me knowing the book's location in front of my crew they'd have some sort of reaction to give away I didn't know it so we had to knock you out."

She paused before having any kind of response. He held his breathe in as he waited for her to react accordingly, but she took her sweet time about it. She was thinking how she should respond, how she should be feeling about this new piece of information. It was what she had asked for, but the whole idea was just preposterous! Although, he did tell the truth. She most likely _would_ have gone to her father if he revealed his true lack of knowledge right then and there. However she also felt that knocking her unconscious was unnecessary!

"Well then why are you trying to keep me on this ship?"

"I'm not trying to keep you on! If anything I'm doing all I can to kick you off! None of us here need to be bothered by a _woman_ of the privileged kind." He defended himself. "It just so happens I brought you here on a whim and I didn't think about the aftermath, so until I do you're stuck aboard the Nidhogg." He yelled at her.

"And what about you not giving me my dress?" She yelled back.

"I was just teasing." He smirked. "Lying, if you wish to call it that."

"Well expect me to be off as soon as possible!" She declared.

"Like I said, feel free to be condemned on your way across the border." He waved her off, the decision was made.

There was a silence between them, and Maka was trying to prepare to leave. However, she felt defeated, and noble woman or not she didn't accept that she didn't feel a closure in their conversation. How could she just leave the ship, she didn't feel like she was ready, even though she's only been on a day.

"Why were you so determined to not be hung?" She asked on a whim. When she saw his raised eyebrow as a reaction, she quickly added, "Just for curiosity's sake!"

He took in another breathe. He'd already told her most of the story, might as well tell her the rest. "I'm the only one on this ship fit to be Captain. If I die, my crew won't have any direction or leadership and they need someone to be watching over them. They highly deserve it."

She was surprised at his answer. She was expecting something more along the lines of him wanting to keep himself living for selfish reason like simply being he didn't want to die and he wanted to live the rest of his life. However, the opposite was true. It gave her a funny feeling inside, that what the others on the ship were saying about him was true. He was unselfish, he wanted to live on for the crew. It was funny, Tsubaki said the same thing about him as he was saying about himself. It nearly killed her to think that she might actually be changing her thoughts about him, and she mentally punched herself and made sure she stood her ground and kept herself strict when it came to judging the likes of a pirate.

"So you did not want to die because the crew needs you." She repeated her thoughts outside of her head. "Who knew the 'notorious Captain Soul' had such a soft side?" She teased.

"Oh lay off it you bloody broad!" He quickly snapped at her. He was not someone to be teased for having a soft side within his tough exterior.

She held in her pride. The nerve of this man to call her such a vile thing! "Why were you sentenced to death in the first place?" She asked. She figured, all of this trouble would not have happened if he hadn't been sentenced to hanging in the first place.

Her response surprised him. He had expected yelling, shouting, hitting, even a small amount of swearing would have done the job. "It's…complicated." He replied.

Maka sighed. She didn't really have to know why he was condemned, because what preoccupied her the most was why he didn't want to be hung. Now she saw why everyone loved their captain, he cared for his crew. He sucks ass at showing it, but he cares.

"Is that all? Because you can leave now." He said with a strict tone. "If you're going to be lodging on my ship until you get off at the next port, I'll be expecting payment before you-"

"Hold on a minute!"

He stopped his talking and looked over at her. She seemed to be struggling with herself. She was groaning and sighing and rubbing her temples. He waited a few seconds for her to say something, but all she was doing was study pacing and thinking rather hardly.

"What is it now?" He asked, extremely irritated.

She put up a finger, telling him to wait. He unwillingly obliged. He crossed his arms and took a seat in a nearby chair, raising an eyebrow. What was he thinking? Bringing someone like _her_ onto his ship, infecting his crew with a girl like _her_. She finally finished her thoughts, and walked back over to the table. Maka slammed her fist into the table, put her other hand on her waist, and glared straight into his eyes across the table again.

"Look here, _Soul_." She emphasized how she didn't use the title 'Captain' with it. "Not that I have a choice or anything given the difficulty of the circumstances, but I have decided to tag along on this, ship or whatever you _pirates_ call it, on one condition."

"Woah wait you just said you were leaving! I never agreed to keeping you on my-!" He tried to protest.

"I want to find the man who killed my mother."

She interrupted him. He should have known, he couldn't avoid listening to her prattle. He was stunned, shocked, and left speechless at her proposal. Did she not just hear him? He had no plans of keeping her on his ship, only long enough until he figured out a way to get off, no matter how long it took.

"Excuse me?"

"The man is a pirate, and if you are as _great_ as you say you are, then you should have no problem finding him. He's one of your own, after all." She said defiantly and put both hands on her hips now.

"Sorry miss, but do I look like the Scotland Yard to you? I'm not gonna go looking for some missing child." He shot her down immediately.

"Come on! You're the only person I know who can-!"

"Why because I'm a _pirate_? Look I don't know what you think about us, but we don't get involved with each other's business unless it affects us or our crew."

She laughed. _Laughed_. He couldn't believe she was actually laughing at what he said.

"I don't think you quite understand the situation here, _Captain_." She smirked. "If you refuse me, I shall send a message to my father and make sure the hangmen take measure of your neck."

He twitched slightly. This woman in front of him really irritated Soul. She had the power to blackmail him, damn noble.

"What happened to you demanding to be let off the ship?" He questioned.

She paused for a moment, before speaking. "I thought about it. What you said is right, if I leave next port it'd be difficult for me to return home, especially if I'm on my own. It'd probably pain you if I left because I could always tell the guards _you _kidnapped me so if I'm willing to come to an agreement. So, if I am stuck on this vessel roaming around the seas until the next time you port to Death City, I want you to help me find him. It's the least you can do."

He was speechless again. And just like before, she had power over him. He completely regretted taking her onto his ship now, what a stupid impulsive decision.

"Like I said, I don't meddle with the affairs of other pirates. It's against the code."

"Pirates have a _code_?" Maka shouted in disbelief. He gave her a blank look, as if the answer to that question was absolutely obvious. She shook her head and her hands. "Nevermind, forget that." She turned her back to him and started walking away from him.

She was going to do this with or without him.

"Just to make things clear, you are _not_ going to get involved. I won't allow that. This is between _me_ and _him_, you'd just simply be helping me."

She had a point. He wouldn't admit it, but it seems he's lost the conversation. He was amazed and pleasantly surprised with her, how she managed to find a loophole in the code. He underestimated her. Going for other pirates wasn't his thing, he was just a free roaming pirate who would sometimes take little jobs to make some extra cash.

"I'll be expecting payment." He said strictly, crossing his legs in the manly way.

Excited he finally agreed to see things her way, she stopped a few feet from the door and turned around to smile at him. "We'll see about that."

"Is that sarcasm?"

"A mild amount."

She stuck her tongue out, and with that, she left the captain's quarters.

* * *

><p><strong>This is a very explanatory chapter, so I hope things aren't confusing!<strong>

**Please Review!**

**It keeps the pirates alive (:**


	3. La Dolce Vita

**I do not own Soul Eater or any other character (hahahah get the pun?)**

**Please read my comments in Chapter One for other accents (:**

**Special Regards:  
>.Poisoned Scarlet.<br>Lacrow  
>Puckabrina NaMi SoMa SasuSaku<br>Alex-Chan 1234  
>mabello<br>sapphireangel09  
>crazychick1313<br>SunshineGirl09  
>Piggy7869<br>thebadsun  
>Kountry101<br>Silverwolf819  
>xxWARxx<br>Emcronia  
>spixie303<br>Taritakoom**

* * *

><p>"I want to find the man who killed my mother."<p>

"Like I said, I don't meddle with the affairs of other pirates. It's against the code."

"Just to make things clear, you are _not_ going to get involved. I won't allow that. This is between _me_ and _him_, you'd just simply be helping me."

…

She didn't mean to be so rude, all the guy wanted was what was best for his crew, and that was him. If he had just explained to her in the first place why he had told such a huge lie to escape condemnation, she probably would have gone along with it. He could have told her that his crew needed him as guidance and he couldn't just leave them to fend for themselves. She would have been persuaded, given the choice of taking away one life or saving the lives of many.

Then again she probably wouldn't have taken the time to consider letting him go and would have told her father about him.

A few hours after she left, she laid down on the spare bed Tsubaki had in her room and began reading an old book about different herbs and plants. Tsubaki had found for her. The accommodations surprised the young aristocrat, she expected to be sent into the lowest level of the boat crammed in a room full of dirty, sweaty men and having to sleep on a small, flippable hammock. Pleasantly surprised, the dark-haired woman had an extra bed in her quarters so the two of them ended up becoming roommates.

"Hey Tsubaki?"

"Yeah?" She took a quick pause from spreading the sheets onto her bed.

"I don't mean to pry, but why is it that you have a spare bed available?" She looked up from her novel.

"It's no problem at all!" Tsubaki looked around as she thought, trying to reach into her memories. She smiled. "The Captain keeps it vacant in case we come across a castaway." She pointed to Maka. "But in your condition, I suppose it's in case our leader happens to kidnap a young aristocrat."

Maka raised an eyebrow. _Well, he's certainly thought of everything_, she commented in her head. "And you don't mind rooming with a castaway?"

Tsubaki laughed. "Oh no, if that ever happens I won't be here. I'd be staying with the Thompson sisters."

"The Thompson sisters?"

She pointed. "Their room is next door. I sleep on their extra hammock sometimes because being here gets kind of lonely." She explained sweetly. "You'll meet them eventually."

"Oh, okay." Maka became curious, who were these sisters? Hopefully she would get along with them as well as she did with Tsubaki. "I don't mean this in a rude way, but why are you staying here then?"

She stood up and finished making her bed. "_You_ aren't a dirty nutrition deprived survivor of a shipwreck. I don't mind sharing a room with you." She walked towards the door to leave. "I'm going to clean the galley, I made quite a mess in there from tonight's meal."

"But it's already dark out." She said in a questioning tone.

"It's not like walking the streets of London, Maka. Believe me when I say you're perfectly safe here." She gave her another smile and closed the door behind her.

She jokingly rolled her eyes at how a pirate ship could be safe, and went back to her book. This new information about how prepared Soul was on taking a castaway aboard, backed up what everyone was saying about him. She wasn't entirely convinced that he wasn't a greedy, arrogant, social delinquent mostly because he was a _pirate_. That's all he had to be to become her instant enemy. She couldn't decide with herself whether or not to treat him rudely because if it wasn't for him she'd be enjoying a large bubble bath, dressed in a nightgown, and sleeping in her large bed, or nicely because he had given her satisfactory accommodations and was questionably a really good guy.

Suddenly, someone knocked on her door before opening it.

"'Ey there."

Maka looked up from the novel. "Hello. Ox, right?" She closed the book.

He nodded and walked in wearing the same outfit as earlier, except he had a new item in his hands. "What's that you're readin'?"

"Just an old book I found." She lied slightly to make it a quick summary. "Is that your telescope I heard about?"

Ox smiled with pride. "Yep! State o' the art, she is. I'm actually headed up to the foremast so I can start my watching shift for the night."

"Well that sounds exciting." She commented. "So, why are you here then?"

"Just passin' along a message, that I am." He walked over by her bed.

"A message? From who?"

He pointed his thumb behind him. "Jus' spoke with the Cap'n. Told me to tell you that he requires you work tomorrow scrubbin' the deck and handlin' the ropes and such." He listed.

"What?" Maka exclaimed. "The nerve of him! I told him that I would give him a sum for my lodging!"

Ox laughed. "Yeah, he mentioned you'd say that. But then he also instructed me to reply, and I quote, 'You said that we'd see about it and you said it sarcastically, so I can't assume that you _will_ pay me.'"

"I can't believe him." Maka groaned, realizing the consequence of her impulsive mistake. "I have to go up there and set him straight."

"Woah there lass." He put his hands up to stop her before she got up. "You don't got much of a chance. Once the Cap'n's made his mind it's impossible to break."

"Well I can go into his quarters and try." She finally stood up from her bed and tried walking out of the room but Ox put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her back in.

"Already gone to bed, he has." He told her.

She sat down on her bed and huffed. "Then I'll just try again tomo-"

"He _also_ told me to let you know he'll be keepin' a lock on his door." Ox smiled. Maka was getting aggravated that Soul was taking authority over her. "You can knock all ya want miss but he won't even bother givin' you the finger."

"Dirty bastard's gone mad!" She commented, then raised an eyebrow and calmed her voice down. "He never had a lock before?"

"Oh no he's always had it. Never had to use it since no one's ever threatened to break into his dwellin'." He nodded his head towards her as she sighed; he made a good point. Ox started walking out of the room. "Our Cap'n's considerate, but don't get him wrong, miss. He won't let _anyone_ stay on the Nidhogg without havin' 'em work labor compensation."

Maka watched as he closed the door behind him after saying his last words. For a few hours, she actually thought she had the notorious Captain Soul on a leash. She should have known there wasn't much of a chance of that happening, even if she was the daughter of the King's right hand man, best friend's with the King's son, and the most valuable noble woman in Death City. On _his_ ship, forced to wear _his_ crew's spare pirate clothes, and working for _him_, folding all the cards in her hands seemed inevitable.

She was surprised at how well she was handling the situation. But that was her best qualities, she was very level-headed and adaptable. It prided her that if it were any other noble woman they wouldn't be able to handle the filth of the ship, working on the ship, wearing practically slave clothes, and dealing with people who had more authority and had no respect for them. The main reason she was able to handle it, or so she told herself was the reason, was because the routinely life with a considerable lack of freedom was beginning to bore her. Someone not obeying or listening to her…

…she found the new circumstance intriguing, and was more drawn to it than repelled.

She was already out cold when Tsubaki came back.

.⌠∞⌡.

She rarely saw the Captain during the few days that passed. He never dined with them during meals, always eating by himself in his room. Every other minute was always holed up in his headquarters, almost never showing his face outside of his room. Being the patient woman she was, she decided that since she could not barge into his office like before, she would wait until he came out and then confront him about her 'labor compensation.' However, throughout the last few days the crew helped her with her 'chores' and 'duties' that involved Nidhogg.

They literally showed her the ropes, and how to loosen or tighten them.

The only time she ever saw the Captain again was when he came out and rested a hand over his personal balcony right outside his door that overlooked the entire main deck. She was cleaning it with a mop and a bucket, when she looked up to see his smug face smiling at her, satisfied with the scene his eyes had been given. Of course, she tried to go up and talk to him but whilst seeing her head for the stairs said Captain smoothly went right back to the safety of the other side of the door with the lock.

The day after that, she was helping Harvar check the ropes holding the sails up and staring at the door of his quarters.

"Doesn't he ever come out?" She turned and complained to him.

Harvar stopped for a second and looked at where she was staring. "The Captain?" He shook his head. "No, the guy always keeps to himself, spends most of the days in there doing what not." He returned his attention to the ropes.

She frowned, learning of the boy's sheltered habits. For some reason that's been buried deep into the pit of her stomach, she was hoping she'd see more of him during her stay on the Nidhogg. It had already been half a week since she'd actually starting _living_ on the ship and she's barely caught a glimpse of him. Was he unreachable to his crew? Did they rarely talk to him or was it forbidden?

A few more days passed, and he still kept himself locked away in his personal brig.

It was beginning to peck at her like a bird and a tree. What could that man find in his room that could possibly be _that _interesting? However the thought, controversially, rested in the back of her mind because she was busied with tasks alongside the crew. She had gotten close to them, deciding they were not the vial creatures she had had nightmares about. And in return, they slowly but surely cracked the shell that surrounded her manners and she loosened up around them. She had gotten especially close to one particular individual, and that was her roommate Tsubaki.

She was overall more well mannered and well educated than the others, as much as a pirate can be anyways. It was her for the most part who helped her get acquainted with handling the ship, and others pitched in as well. She saw many different men working on the ship, so far the only other woman she'd met was Tsubaki, aside from the two sisters she'd heard of but other than that they were the only women as far as she was concerned. However the men were decent, most of the time. They certainly weren't born women for a reason, what with their manliness. Among the entire crew, the only others she had spoken to were Ox, Harvar, and Kilik. The guy who called himself Black Star, as she remembered, occasionally came by them for some drinks but never really talked to her directly, it was mostly egotistical remarks and obnoxious outbursts.

They had been kinder to her than most of her acquaintances in high society. They had given more of an effort to hold an enjoyable conversation with her than most of her acquaintances in high society. The old, people doing whatever she wanted and treating her as some sort of Queen, no matter how high ranked her father was, just seemed to bore her to death. Life was unfair in that way, yet it gave her the chance to live at the same time.

And what should she come to withstand more, but _pirates_.

Had she not hated pirates? Despised of them to such an extent she made it play to watch them executed for entertainment. Not much of her views had changed, these were only a small portion of the amount of pirates in the world, and the ones she'd met just so happened to be amiable; save for one, rather smug leader. Any other woman like her would have thrown tantrums and been spoiled brats, however she had been taught to work for her glory and as such she adapted to her situations. She was more courageous than the other women of Death City's upper class, and so she judged not on the fact they were _pirates_, but of the people they were. Then again, in her eyes, they were helping her achieve her ultimate goal, and so she let her hatred slide.

The second time she saw the Captain outside of his room he had called all members of the crew to deck, standing over his balcony with three people beside him.

One, she recognized. I mean, who could possibly forget someone with _blue hair_? As described by Soul, the guy stood at his right side, looking tougher and stiffer than she realized he was.

The other two, she did not recognize. They looked alike, and they were both women which quite frankly, surprised her. They both had blonde hair, one longer and one shorter, and the same blue eyes. They were definitely not twins, but given their resemblance they were most likely-

"…sisters."

Maka blinked out of her thoughts and looked to her side to see Tsubaki standing right next to her. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"The two you're looking at, they're the Thompson sisters I was telling you about." She pointed to them as they stood on Soul's left side. "The one on the left is Liz, and the other is Patty."

She stared at their beauty. How two of the most gorgeous women she had ever seen happened to be pirates was beyond her, and she stood in her place with a rather huge amount of disbelief. "Since they're up there with him, they must be importa- wait!" She turned to her. "Your room is right next to theirs! So you must be important too!"

She smiled sweetly accompanied with a light chuckle. "Honestly I _should_ be up there, but I figured you'd be confused, you know lost in the crowd, so I came looking for you."

Maka was caught off guard. "Oh, well you didn't really have to-"

She was interrupted by a rather loud gunshot.

The two women looked back up on the balcony to see that Soul had his arm straight up in the air with a small revolver in hand. Once he shot the round everyone who was talking amongst themselves on deck shut up and looked up at him in silence. She was amazed at how one small act of innocent violence could control these mongrel beasts. Pleased with the attention he received, he brought his arm down and loosely threw the gun back into the girl named Liz's hands.

"Listen up! At the moment, this ship's been sailin' as steady as she goes and if this keeps up we'll be portin' in a country of Hook by the dawn. Once we've made it into harbor I'll be headed to convey the precious cargo then I'll let you all gather your shares, is that clear?"

"Aye Cap'n!"

"Once we arrive, I plan on leaving before the break of the next dawn, so don't dawdle around! I'll be leavin' with or without you." He turned his back to his crew for a second, paused, and then revolved around on his heel to face them again. "And there'll be no bringing back strays of _anything_."

After the announcement the Captain immediately turned around and sped back into his quarters, slamming the door shut behind him. Maka rolled her eyes, of course, like no one saw _that_ the silence that had enveloped the vessel a few seconds earlier, the mass erupted into a mix of all sorts of conversations and the entire boat was bustling. Everyone went back to their previous tasks. As the crowd dispersed, Maka followed Tsubaki into the galley to help her cook supper. In the kitchen, Tsubaki had Maka boil the water and potatoes while she cut the vegetables for the soup.

His broadcast seemed at random to her, he hadn't seen him in what seemed ages and suddenly he just bursts out of his self prison and finally decides to act as captain and command his lot? She definitely did not think that this is what it was going to be like…not that it, bothered her… or anything. Who was she kidding. It wouldn't be the first thing she'd like to admit, or even the priority thought of her mind, but something, some bizarre feeling inside her told her that for some reason, Soul was a big part of why she decided to stay on the ship.

As expected, she quickly shooed the damn thought away.

But it got her thinking more about what it would be like to live on the Nidhogg. This was surely not just some freelancing voyager, and with what the Captain was saying, that possibility became more and more less likely. Hell, she couldn't even believe there was so much to be done every day, like how could a boat need so much work to be done? She'd worked more in one week than she probably would have in her lifetime had she not been taken onto the ship and embarked on this farfetched journey.

"Tsubaki, can you explain what the deal is when the ship docks?" She asked, using a ladle to stir the potatoes around.

She walked over to Maka and put the recently cut vegetables into her pot. "Well, everytime we head into port, the Captain gives us leeway and lets us roam about the town." She grunted, picked up a huge bag and moved it out of her way. "He divides the payments he receives among the crew and everyone spends it all on whatever they please." She smiled, turning the stove off for Maka. "Mostly it's women or weaponry."

Maka rolled her eyes. Of course the men spent their allowances on those two items. She opened her mouth to ask another question, but quickly shut it. Should she ask? She was contemplating on whether or not it was appropriate. It troubled her that she wasn't used to not being able to ask anything she'd like, _anything_ at all. She was unaccustomed to questioning the essential legality of her inquiries because she was no longer at the height of the pyramid, no longer had all the power of a noble. It began to irk her once more that she should receive punishment were _he_ to find her question, nosy and distasteful. Nonetheless, she'd rather her pride and nobility not be questioned and so she sucked in her breathe and asked her friend.

"What of the Captain?"

She was leaning over to put a bag back under the cupboard when she stopped to stand up, put a hand on her waist, and look over at her friend. "Beg pardon?" She asked.

"The Captain, what does he spend his pays on?" Tsubaki raised an eyebrow. "Curiosity of course." Maka responded.

She smiled slightly at her question and went back to leaning over. "We've not a clue. No one's ever seen him outside of the ship."

Maka walked over to Tsubaki and the cupboard. "You mean to say he just, disappears?"

Tsubaki grunted as she got the cupboard door to close. "Ugh, wouldn't have put it better myself." She smiled.

The indigo eyed woman moved on to another task and Maka, having nothing else to accomplish, jumped on top of a wooden table and swung her legs back and forth, patiently waiting for her friend. A few seconds of comfortable silence, she brought up a new subject. "So what did he mean by, 'precious cargo'?"

"_Oh, that."_ She said, upper body deep inside another cupboard trying to put back the excess food she did not use for dinner that night. _"This isn't just a pirate ship Maka, we are what you may call bounty hunters for hire."_

"Bounty hunters?"

"_Essentially." _Tsubaki emerged from the cupboard and leaned against a nearby counter. She smiled. "Actually, we're more like transporters. We retrieve information, objects, anything that needs getting and deliver it to our employer. Anything extra we find or whatever we get paid, that be our bounty."

Maka nodded understandingly. "So you've got something, and now, you're delivering it to someone in Hook?"

The other woman smiled at her, commending the young patrician for her quick perceiving. "You best prepare, supper's just about ready."

Maka nodded her head and jumped off the table to grab a broom and start sweeping the floors. A few minutes later, Kilik entered the kitchen.

"Aye mates."

"Kilik." Tsubaki greeted.

"What is this god awful stench?" He commented playfully, waving a hand over his face as he entered the galley.

Tsubaki rolled her eyes. "That'll be the smell of your feast and you best be heading out of here if you plan on receiving your ration!" She laughed loudly as she pressed her hands against his shoulders and tried to push him out.

"Oh hassle me not, I ain't here fer the grub. Though a small bite wouldn't hurt." He winked at Tsubaki who just rolled her eyes. Then he pointed. "I'm here fer the girl."

Maka suddenly stopped sweeping and turned to the man who had physically brought her onto the boat many days before. She pointed to herself. "Me?"

He smiled. "Aye. The cap'n be wantin' ta dine with the lass."

Maka raised her tone in disbelief. "He wants to what?"

Kilik now winked at Maka and turned his back to her."And take it from me, ya don't want ta keep a man waitin' while he's hungry." He waved and with that he walked out.

"Um…" Maka looked over to her friend with a look as if she was stranded.

Tsubaki laughed. "Well don't just stand there!" She pushed her out of the room. "You best be off!"

"Now let's think about this I don't think it's a really appropriate time I mean I've just finished cooking…" She went on and on about the reasons why she shouldn't see the Captain as Tsubaki tried to push her out of the door.

At first, she was all riled up about wanting to see him immediately to lift the charges he'd placed on her. However, during the past few days she'd been working with the crew she had actually enjoyed her time well. She had an amiable time actually working on the boat instead of simply riding aboard it like it was some ferry. Amongst themselves and everyone else on the ship, the crew was kind, sarcastic, and good company to have around. They were certainly not the kind of pirates she'd either read or heard about, and she was absolutely fine with that. She had come to terms with her former stubborn resentment, and settled with her present circumstance comfortably.

But now that she no longer had a reason to meet him and had nothing to talk to him about, she wouldn't know what to say, let alone try to hold some sort of conversation with him at a dinner table; which is why she was so reluctant to seeing him.

She had pushed her friend out of the galley and closed the door before Maka could attempt to come back in. "Tsubaki!" She shouted, knocking on the door.

Maka groaned and slid her fist down the door after her last knock. She slammed her forehead onto the door in frustration. "Ow…" She quickly threw a hand up to rub her tender spot. "That was brilliant." She muttered.

She turned around and looked up across the deck, where a light was flickering in the window behind the balcony. She glared at the closed door next to the window with a scowl. She sighed and rolled her eyes as she fixed her disturbed clothes. She dragged her feet heavily along the deck floor, ignoring the dark of the sky, the lack of moonlight, and the ominous fog that surrounded her. Safe place or not, the Nidhogg at night was definitely eerie. She looked around to see nothing but sea for miles. What else did she expect, the watcher atop the mast would have yelled 'Land Ho!' if they were anywhere near dirt.

She'd been in this position before, back when she was five years old, when the air was cold and it was pitch black yet the stars found their way through. Her mother taught her to hum a little pirate song whenever she felt she was in a strange atmosphere. As she walked sluggishly, gaining more and more distance across the deck, she thought of the little tune. The last time she sung it, was that damned day thirteen years ago. _'A pirates life for me…' _She silently chuckled at the irony of her words. A pirate's ship, was definitely not the same as that of the King's Men. A pirate's voyage, was certainly not the same as that of the King's Men. A pirate's life, was positively not the same as that of the King's Men.

Each step she took up the stairs creaked and sounded in every tone until she finally made it to the blasted door. Reluctantly, she lifted her fist up to knock.

"You can come in."

A low voice sounded from the other side of the door before her knuckles could touch the wood. She eyed the doorknob, curious of its status as locked or unlocked. With a heavy sigh she grabbed it and turned it, throwing the wooden plank open.

She saw him sitting in a chair, leaning back on its back legs, his own legs carelessly settled on top of the table. He had one hand placed on one of the armrests and his other was tossing an apple up and down, lightly throwing it back into the air as soon as it landed into his hand.

"Maka… Albarn, right?"

His eyes watched the apple carefully, until it fell down one last time and he wrapped his fingers around it and held it tight. She watched anxiously as he, apple now in hand, took his feet off the table so as to stand up. "Think fast!" He said suddenly and without looking, chucked the small fruit at a young aristocratic woman standing in the doorway.

She quickly turned her body to the side and dodged it, letting the apple fly past her through the open doorway.

"Are you mental?" She asked, closing the door behind her as she walked in and put a hand to her chest.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." He said with fake sincerity and lifted his hand to usher her to the table with his pointer and middle finger.

She followed his suggestion and made her way towards him, step by step. "The only thing that scares me, _Captain_, are your manners."

He sat back down in his chair. "The stars be lookin' bright for you because_ I_, amgoing to take that as a compliment."

The two sat across from each other, faces only lit by the candles and lanterns that surrounded the room. He had a bottle of wine available for the two of them at the table, although he indecently drank straight from it so…not so much for the both of them now. There was soup, bread, fish and a questionable source of meat that could have been chicken but probably wasn't, on the table. The rest of the crew was given the same feast, minus the 'meat'.

Maka sat there with her hands in her lap, staring at the food in front of her as if expecting it to come alive and dance around her plate. He watched her intently, noticing how her hands never moved an inch to reach for a piece of silverware and try to dine; she just kept them still, in her lap. She noticed his staring and looked up at him with a questioning look as if she didn't know what to do with the foreign food in front of her and he gave her a nod so she began to eat.

It was silent in the captain's quarters for once. It wasn't exactly awkward, but it wasn't a comfortable silence either. Maka certainly had nothing to say to him, and rather had her mind spend its time wondering why he had decided to have her sit with him at his table like this. It was curious that he had asked her to enjoy supper in his presence, yet he said nothing to her. If he had called her into his quarters he should have some sort of news to tell her, right? Yet his end of the table stayed as quiet as her end.

Unable to bear the inquiries of her mind any longer, she set her silverware down heavily on either side of her plate, causing the man across her to look up from his meal and right into her scrutinizing gaze.

"Mr. Eater-" She began.

"Please, I am anything if not but a humble marauder. Just call me Soul."He cut her off.

She huffed at his correction. "_Soul_ under your jurisdiction, which I intend to not bother with as much as even the slightest hint of mental effort on your authority, why have I been summoned as such?"

A smile played on his lips and let out a small chuckle at her elaborate question. He took a pause before answering, grabbing the edges of his cup and taking one last sip, swallowing obnoxiously. "Circumstances have arisen, Ms. Albarn." He stood from his chair. "Here, follow me."

He lead her to a wardrobe, where he violently yet smoothly slid a drawer open. He shuffled through a bunch of things as she stood behind him, watching intently with a raised eyebrow. A few seconds of digging in what seemed to be Narnia or something to her, he finally brought some items out from the drawer and closed it. He turned to her with said items in hand, and shoved a new set of clothes to her.

"What are these?" She asked, grabbing them to keep them to her chest.

He continued to walk past her, study pacing around the room. "Men's attire. You'll find it much more desirable to be dressed as a male in these parts. Oh, and tie your hair up." He turned around and gave her a short smile.

She took a step forward and followed his strides. "Excuse me?"

He turned his back to her and walked away. "I'd rather have my new crew member _not_ taken advantage of, prostituted, or exploited."

"Well, what about Tsubaki or the Thompson sisters or the other-"

"They'll be doing the same, as they always have." He took a sword off the wall and began ghosting his fingers over the blade. "You see, being a woman will prove inconvenient; some of these towns aren't very, _hospitable_ to the female gender."

"And I can't just wait on the ship?" She tried to protest. First, she's forced to wear these rags and now he's trying to get her to wear male clothing? She wouldn't be caught dead in the fabrics of the opposite gender, although that possibility was rather high as well so she just had to suck in her pride.

"All members of the Nidhogg are required to disembark from the ship when we port. I won't have all my _men_ going insane from being on the waters at all times of the days." He frowned and examined his sword more closely. "It's like being locked in your house for months." He commented absentmindedly.

She raised an eyebrow, noting a very small detail in his words. "And the women?"

He smirked. "Whilst we are nearing the harbor, there's nary a female aboard my ship as far as I'm concerned. Savvy?"

She thinned her eyes to give him a scornful stare. Was the female gender really so prejudiced against? She'd never been directly faced with this issue, and to put it simply it displeased and aggravated her. "Well, if that is all." She said audaciously and turned her back to leave.

"Delay your haste, love." He said in a loud, defiant voice without even a short flinch to glance at her.

She stopped reluctantly, emphasizing her last step with a loud stomp. She hung her shoulders along with her dramatic sigh, and put both hands on her hips as she turned around. "What?" She said impatiently.

Soul threw the sword he was holding across the room to her, high and slow so she could easily catch it by the handle. "All men around here carry a sword with them. Never know when you're going to need to…_negotiate_."

"Ugh, why must you _pirates_ always resort to violence to resolve things?"

"We don't resort to violence, it's a foremost decision."

She raised an eyebrow.

He smirked. "The rum's an inevitable comrade aiding to our desires, of course. That ain't our choosing."

"The pen is mightier than the sword Mr. Eater." She turned her back to him and nagged in a vain attempt to try and change the man's beliefs.

"Yeah well a bloody little stick won't get you out of a nasty rape attempt now will it?" Maka frowned at his point, and continued walking out of the room without saying a word. "That's what I thought." He smiled to himself for making the young woman speechless.

.⌠∞⌡.

The sun hadn't even touched the horizon when she was awakened by a loud ruckus of screaming and footsteps. She opened her eyes to see Tsubaki already standing up and putting on pants, somehow finding time to tuck her entire nightshirt in her loose bottoms. She was doing just that when Maka blinked a few times from the sudden sleep interruption and her tall friend was quickly rushing her to get up and put some sort of attire on to cover her body. She quickly obeyed her hushed commands, quickly throwing her covers off her body and rushing to her own loose bottoms. Tsubaki hopped around the room, trying to put on one shoe at a time in quick fashion. Maka did the same, only giving enough effort to tuck half of her shirt in and easily slipped her shoes on, thus following her acquaintance out their door and made her way onto deck.

The sky was strangely lit although its solar source was nowhere to be seen. The first thing she noticed was the large amount of the crew running about the deck. They were shouting incomprehensiblewords to each other, supposedly as some strange means of teamwork and getting work done. The first place she looked to once her conscience had fully caught up to her, was the balcony in front of the Captain's quarters.

He stood there, weary and disheveled in his appearance.

He certainly wasted no time in getting up that morning, why he didn't even bother presenting himself authoritatively well to his crew. He didn't have the arm on the ledge that was usually there, instead it was crossed with the other arm and accompanied itself with a very stern look about his posture, composure, and overall appearance.

If he was out early enough, this must be something important.

A sudden tug from Tsubaki pulled her away from her thoughts and her eyes started wandering helplessly. She saw that the others were no longer running about but heading to the sides of the ship. Still shouting, yes, but speeding so quickly into the edge of the deck their upper body thrust forward when it hit the half wall and they looked down as far as they could.

And all their captain did was stand there and watch them ogle at something in the water.

"What's going on?" Maka shouted in a panicked voice.

"We're entering Hook's harbor, just about a mile away!" She screamed in reply.

"Well that's great! Right?" She said, confused. "Why's everyone so high strung?"

They found their own area on the edge of the ship, doing the same as the others and throwing their upper bodies over it to look about the water. Maka grunted as she hit the wall and took a quick glance back up to the balcony. The sisters and a blue-haired male once again made their way beside the captain, watching everyone on the lower deck. She wondered for a second why, once again, Tsubaki was with her instead of her rightful place, but the sudden adrenaline rush from the liveliness of everyone's bustling brought her attention back to the seas.

The sun began to rise, and an eerie spectacle unfolded itself with the new light.

She gasped, as her question had been answered.

Visions of scattered pieces of wood crowded her green eyes. Torn flags waved exhaustedly with the feeble wind and only parts of what used to be roaming sea vessels barely peaked above the sea level, the rest laid to rest beneath it; no pun intended. The air around them grew more silent with every inch the sun rose higher to its zenith, where the men were given a clearer and clearer sight of aftermath. With what she'd seen it seemed impossible for even a dingy to sail unbothered by any part of a lost ship and its relinquished items. Drowning in denial she turned her head around, looking at the mess appearing on all sides of the Nidhogg; it was a wonder they could pass these waters, even at their slow pace. This was a new scene that unveiled itself before her, and post-shock she had every instinct of dismayed concern and empathy lingering in her heart as it sank to the depths the poor vessels now slept in.

"There are so many shipwrecks…" She said in an incredulous whisper.

The two looked in the same direction, staring at the view. Tsubaki looked at Maka's expression out of the corner of her eyes, then returned to her previous are of gaping. "This part of the coast resides on the outskirts of Hook's harbor. It's called Hook Cemetery."

The blonde turned to her friend. "Hook Cemetery?"

The other woman kept her focus. "This country's famous for it; the battles, the sunken ships, those who've died at sea, it's like the ocean's version of a ghost town."

She stopped looking at her friend, gaining a greater sympathetic feeling for the destruction. "I wonder why they fought _here_."

Tsubaki shrugged and turned her body around. "_He's_ only person on this ship who'd have an idea."

She followed her movements and they were both peering at the man front and center on the balcony, arms still crossed. It seemed like he hadn't even moved an inch. He glared in his own unforgiving manner at the graveyard of ships supposedly named Hook Cemetery.

"Alright, you seen your fair share. Back to your stations!"

Maka watched him command his crew and heavily step back into his quarters. The men shuffled in a half-orderly fashion, muttering comments and conversations that only made sense if you were a part of them. She followed Tsubaki back into their room, where she properly fixed herself up for their country visit. The ship rocked more and more with every increasing amount of bumps they passed from the wreckages, making things a little bit more difficult than it should have been for her. Maka grabbed the men's clothing she had received from her bedside table and the two women began their transformations into men together, the taller one helping the noble more.

"So what happens now?" Maka asked, tucking the rest of her shirt in.

The other sighed as she put her hair up. "We wait." She walked over to help Maka put her hair up.

"Until we port, yeah?" Maka grabbed a thick vest and put it over her slacked long sleeve shirt.

Tsubaki did the same. "No, the Captain goes out before the ship in his own rowboat to make the exchange earlier, that way by the time we tie and anchor onto the docks he'll have our cuts and we can be off on our own faster."

Maka groaned as she put on a hat and holstered her sword. With the help of questioning and answering with everyone she'd met, mostly Tsubaki, she began learning more about the routines of the Nidhogg and its controllers. It was a lot of memorizing, but thankfully she'd mastered that skill with her reading habit. Thankfully, the ways of a pirate ship and a pirate crew intrigued her more than desired.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry if it seems like Maka adjusted way too quickly and for the extremely long paragraphs! To sum it all up, she hates pirates so she wants to retaliate against them and doesn't want to be their friend but she's very ambitious so her ultimate goal kind of overpowers all that.<strong>

**This was more of an explanatory chapter, like a short introduction to how the ship works and what they do for a living, and why Maka doesn't have to sleep on a hammock hahah so once again sorry if Maka's asking way too many questions.**

**Savvy? (:**

**Kid returning permanently next chapter!**

**R E V I E W [please]**

**It'll be a pirate's life for you.**


End file.
